Daddies Precious
by Pienuniek
Summary: Head-Chef Edward discovers a beaten girl in the dumpster of his restaurant. He saves her, and while her injuries heal, he finds out her past. They seem to be perfect for each other.


A/N this one shot I wrote for the Olderward, Olderella contest over at FictionPad to my astonishment I won in all six categories. So enjoy!

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Fictionpad Olderward & Olderella Contest

Title: Daddy's Precious  
Penname: Pienuniek  
Fictionpad Profile link: /author/Pienuniek  
Pairing: Edward/Bella  
Rating: NC17  
Word Count: 12236  
Beta: Chandrakanta  
Pre-readers: Lorraine Bubbleybear, LunaDiSangue85

Disclaimer: The author does not own any publicly recognizable entities herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warning: While no rape is described in this story, it is implied.

Summary: Head-Chef Edward discovers a beaten girl in the dumpster of his restaurant. He saves her, and while her injuries heal, he finds out her past. They seem to be perfect for each other.

Daddy's Precious.

I was reminiscing while I cleaned my kitchen. Emmett, my older brother and sous-chef, was cleaning out the cooler, dividing the spoiled and the still useable from the top notch ingredients. Only the top notch would be used in this kitchen; the still useable we took home and the spoiled was tossed. Home was above our specialized restaurant and club. With my thirty-five years, I was a very successful chef, but the specialization had nothing to do with my food. We catered to a very specific audience; the customers of our restaurant were only Daddies and their littles. We had two dining rooms: one where only grownups conversed as grownups—that could be a number of Daddies without littles present, or a Daddy and his little while the little was in grown-up mindset. The other dining room catered to the Daddies in the lifestyle. It gave them a place to bring their littles out to dinner without ridicule. We had highchairs and booster seats for adults to give them a true Daddy/little eating experience. The waiting staff in that room were all littles acting like young teens; it also had a play area with everything from blocks to video-games.

Jasper, my younger brother and Maître-D, kept an eye on both dining rooms, the last of the stragglers finishing up their coffee or dessert. Rosalie, Emmett's little, was cleaning the tables. Her pigtails truly made her look the twelve years old she preferred to be; she was, in fact, thirty to Emmett's thirty-nine. Emmett was the only one of our ragtag bunch who had found his little. Jasper and I were still searching; we were all Doms but didn't truly feel that that was our idea of kink. We were equally sure we didn't like vanilla relationships; let's face it, we're controlling bastards.

Our adoptive father was a Dom and we grew up in the lifestyle; that's why we were all trained as Doms, but we never felt truly at home in a playroom. For me, any form of spanking was a punishment. I couldn't get around the mental image of my biological father beating my mom with his belt. Jasper and Emmett each had their own reasons for only wanting to care and not tie up. We found the Daddy lifestyle when Uncle Eleazar came to visit one time and his wife came with him, this time in her little role. Until then, we had thought him a regular Dom. He explained his lifestyle to us and we were sold.

When the restaurant I worked at as a line-cook went belly up, I sat my brothers down and asked them if they were interested in this venture: a private club and restaurant, catering completely to the Daddy community. We all had trust funds from our biological parents, so we bought a multi-story warehouse with an underground parking garage. The ground-floor held the club, the dining rooms, and the kitchen. Each of the upper floors were remodeled into luxury apartments for us.

I lived in the penthouse and had a private elevator installed which went straight to my living room from the stockroom behind the kitchen. After a tiring shift in the kitchen, I didn't want to deal with overenthusiastic littles searching for a Daddy. Emmett reappeared from the cooler; he had a large crate for us to divide and a medium-sized garbage bag. I had just thrown out a bucket of water on the floor near the back door, so I told him to leave the bag and divide the contents of the crate. I took the squeegee and pulled the water to the drain. When I pounded it on the floor to dry it in between strokes, it was as if my pounding was answered from outside.

I stopped and listened more closely; I heard a male voice but I couldn't hear what was said. That voice was answered by another banging; this didn't sound good. I unlatched the back door and pulled it open. The latches on the door were loud and when I stepped outside I saw a glimpse of a man running away out of the alley. Never mind; due to the nature of the club, we had state of the art security cameras in—and outside of—the club. I heard another set of bangs, noticing that they seemed to come from the dumpster. I walked over cautiously and looked inside...

I stared into a pair of the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen, almost getting lost in them until I noticed the agonized expression they conveyed. The acrid scent of lighter fluid invaded my nostrils and I crumpled my nose. The petite girl—she looked around twenty—whimpered and whispered, "Daddy, please help..."

My god, she's a little, but what bastard would put her in a dumpster and douse her in lighter fluid? Littles you take care of, you don't harm them. In a flash, I jumped into the dumpster, careful not to land on any part of her. I pulled her into my arms, softly talking to her to reassure her.

"Shhh... Little Girl... You're safe now... Daddy's got you... I'm here, let me help."

"Will you be my new Daddy? Please don't hurt me..."

Rage rolled through me; this little had clearly been abused.

"Shhh... I won't hurt you... You did nothing wrong... Let's get you inside and in the shower. We need to get that nasty stinky stuff off you."

I held my arms open and she curled into my arms; damn, she fit perfectly. I lifted her over the edge of the dumpster and tried to let her go. She clung to me desperately, but with a little encouragement she stood on her left leg only, whimpering again when she tried to stand on her right. I quickly jumped out of the dumpster and held my arms open for her again. She immediately curled into me again. I kicked against the back door to get Emmett to open it because I had my hands full.

"Damn, Edward, what are you doing? Jazz and I would like to go upstairs, but you, mister bossman, needed to get a smoke? You didn't even take the garbage with you..."

The back door opened and he caught sight of us, his jaw dropping.

"Shit! What happened to this pretty little girl?"

The girl whimpered and tried to melt into me. Mmm… that was twice that she had a negative reaction to being called 'little girl'.

"Shhh... pretty one... shhh... You're okay, I'm here." I ignored Emmett for the time being and took her inside. His Dom-brow rose; he didn't like to be ignored. I mouthed 'later' to him and strode straight to my elevator, punching in the code. I stepped in and entered the code in again, making us go upstairs straight away.

"Can you tell me your name, pretty one?"

"Yes, Daddy, it's Bella."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Can you tell me how old you are?"

"I'm eight, Daddy."

"How old are you when you're not little, pretty one?"

Tears filled her eyes and she whispered, "I don't know, Daddy."

I had to try to find out more about her; I had to have some history to gauge how bad the abuse had been. The elevator opened into my living room and Bella's eyes bugged out of their sockets looking around. Her arms tightened some more around my neck. I placed a little kiss on her temple, but that was a mistake because now I had the taste of lighter fluid in my mouth. She was literally soaked in it. She looked at my face; it must have shown my disgust at the nasty stuff in my mouth and a beautiful giggle sounded through the room. I walked along the hallway to the bedroom of my little, the one right next to mine.

"Look, pretty one, while you're here this will be your room; I won't put you down until the bathroom. We don't want to ruin your pretty new room."

A shy smile flitted over her face, but one of her arms shot out and pointed decisively to the stuffed mountain lion on one of the shelves.

"That one!"

"Nuh uh uh, pretty one, how do we ask for something?"

"I'm sorry, Daddy..." She wiggled out of my arms, dropping to her knees and sat there with her mouth wide open. I couldn't believe what I saw. Did that sad excuse for a Daddy truly punish her with sexual acts?

"Come here, pretty one; I'm a different kind of Daddy than your old one. Sex is not for punishment!"

I took her to the bathroom and started to undress her. First I took off her long-sleeved T-shirt and another flood of rage ran through my body. Her entire rump was covered in bruises in various stages of healing.

"Oh, precious one, this will never happen again. This is so wrong; a Daddy should take care of you, not hit you. You give yourself to a Daddy to be safe and not to have to make the decisions."

I had to hold back my anger towards her former Daddy. The man was an animal and if I hadn't been near the back door when I was, I would have found a burning dumpster with her body burned to a crisp. Shit, I had to pull the security from the alley. But right now I had to focus on that poor girl, settle her down.

I filled the bathtub with warm water and squirted in a good amount of Disney Princess bubble bath. Bella had quietly removed the rest of her clothing. I checked her over surreptitiously, cataloguing her injuries. I knew I had to call Dad; we needed to take pictures and check if there were any internal injuries. She had a terrible bruise on her cheek, so we had to check for concussions too. She let me run my hands all over her body, and my gentle touches seemed to relax her a bit. I lifted her under her armpits and set her in the tub. And there was her first adult reaction: with a sigh she stretched out in the tub and lay down in the soapy water; eyes closed, her face looked serene. She dunked her hair into the tub, scrubbing her head furiously. It didn't look like she was accustomed to a bath routine. We would establish that as soon as she truly started to trust. My heart pinched in my chest; I felt connected to her in a strange way.

I called my dad; Carlisle had retired from the hospital and opened up a state of the art clinic in our club, especially for people in the lifestyle. He could give specialized advice, tailored to any kind of fetish. His patients wouldn't have to open themselves up to ridicule or outrage, which they could encounter in regular health clinics. It made him busier than ever. Dad promised to be here ASAP and I breathed a sigh of relief. Jazz was leaning in the doorframe; he would never enter my little's room, as I would never enter his.

"Edward, what's happening? Emmett babbled about a girl you found outside? That she smelt like an unlit torch and had bruises on her face."

"Yes, brother, can you lift the security tapes for tonight in the back alley? I saw a man run away; he heard me open up the back door. It looks like he tried to burn her alive in our dumpster. I haven't gotten much from her though; she's completely reverted to little and is fairly unresponsive. Her name is Bella, but she doesn't even know how old she is. It, goddamn, looks like she was held captive from an early age. She looks around nineteen or twenty. Dad's coming to evaluate and record her injuries." My eyes started to tear up. "Her rump is completely covered in bruises, apart from the bruise on the face and the lighter fluid. Oh, and I discovered that her captor called her 'little girl', so let's avoid that for the foreseeable future."

"Agreed, and I'll go now to lift those tapes. We all have your back, you know that, right?"

I went back into the bathroom; Bella sat on the counter, swinging her legs, wrapped in a towel.

"Daddy, you left me alone. I was good; truly, I didn't stay in the bath longer than five minutes."

"You're so good to Daddy; well done, precious one." Again that fierce rage, they didn't even let her bathe at her leisure. That bath routine might start sooner rather than later.

"Precious? Daddy's father is coming for a short visit; he's a doctor and will check you over."

A panicked look came into her eyes. "If I'm faulty, will I have to go back?"

"Oh, no, never! My dad is coming to see how serious your bruises are. I need to know how bad you're hurt, precious. I will never send you away if you want to stay."

"Daddy?" she says in a whisper, "Are all other Daddies just as nice as you are? Nobody ever was nice to me, Daddy."

I cautiously prodded, "Bella, do you remember your last name?"

"Yes, Daddy. Swan."

"Okay, and might you know where you lived before you were taken away?"

"Forks, Daddy. That's where my mommy and pops lived. My pops was a pig my other Daddy said."

Well, that could mean two things: her father was either a douchebag or a cop. I was betting on the last, simply because that fake Daddy was a douchebag for sure. I heard talking in the living room—three voices—so my brothers and father were here. I carried Precious into the bedroom and sat her on the bed. When I stood up and started to walk out of the room, she started to whimper. I took the mountain lion from the shelf, giving it to her. A big smile lit up her face when she grabbed it and pressed it to her chest.

"For me, Daddy?"

"Yes, pretty girl, for you. I'm going to get my dad now. Please just wait here. We'll be back in a minute."

She nodded her head, cuddling the stuffed toy as if it was the most precious thing ever. I walked into the living room and brought them all up to speed, asking Jazz and Emmett to search out her back-story for as far as they could find. I gave them the snippets of information I got out of her and my assessment of her age, then my dad and I went to her room. I had him wait in the doorway and knelt down before her. She threw shy glances in his direction.

"Daddy, do I have to? Alone? Please stay!" she whispered.

"I'll stay, Precious; you can stand before me or sit on my lap."

I helped her stand and I took the towel from her petite frame, again feeling the rage course through my body. I pulled her into my lap and nodded to my father. He slowly walked into the room and sat on the floor in front of us, trying to be less of a threat. He opened his bag and donned his stethoscope, warming the pad on his hand. He approached her cautiously, but Bella sat perfectly still on my lap; she was tense but resigned. He spoke softly to her as he listened to her lungs. As the great doctor he was, he got her to relax and accept the examination. When he was done with his pictures at the end, Bella suddenly let out an enormous yawn. I took her to the bathroom and made her brush her teeth and go potty. When she was done I put her in bed; she clutched the lion to her chest and looked at me with big eyes.

"Do you have a name for your new friend, Precious?"

"Yes, Daddy. Lion!" she said decisively, followed by another yawn.

"Okay, Lion will stay with you; go to sleep. You're safe here. I'll stay here until you're asleep."

She nodded and closed her eyes; I hummed a tune which came into my mind, mentally calling it Bella's Song. When I was sure she was sleeping, I got up silently and walked from the room, leaving the door partially open. Emmett was bouncing behind my computer and grabbed my arm as soon as I was in reach, excitedly pointing to the screen. I looked and there were several tabs open on the site of Forks Weekly from thirteen years ago. When I read it through I felt a deep sadness settle in my bones. Both her parents were murdered right in front of her; nobody ever found out who the culprit was. Bella had vanished at the same time. Okay, so now we had her name and knew she had no family left. To me it also looked like her urge to be little was a safeguard to the harsh world around her. Jazz now put in the disc he burned from our security system. He had worked backwards from the moment I stepped outside. Now he played the whole incident in the right order.

We saw Bella run into the alley and look around frantically; her whole demeanor was that of an adult, the look in her eyes fierce. Everything crumbled when she saw she ran into a dead end alley. Oh how I wished she had noticed our back door and banged on it. A man the height and build of Emmett—six foot seven and almost as wide; I wasn't small at six-four, but I was a lot lankier, less bulky, my forearm fitted twice in Emmett's—entered the alley after her. Bella had hidden herself behind the dumpster, which stood on the opposite side of the alley to our back door. The gorilla—I couldn't find another word to describe him—zoned in to the dumpster immediately. Sadly, we kept the alley spotless and the dumpster was the only hiding place available. He grabbed her by the arm and looked like he was scolding her. We all saw every trace of grown up behavior melt away and Precious made her appearance. The asshole backhanded her into the dumpster and she slumped onto the ground. He stood there shaking his head, hit the dumpster... I stopped the video.

"Guys, call our forensic friends and have them look for DNA on the dumpster where he hit it. We might just have found ourselves some evidence."

They nodded and Emmett whipped his cell out of his pocket, scrolling through his Daddy contacts. Yes, we had quite a few contacts in all places of law enforcement and the judicial system, all of them Daddies, all of them fiercely loyal to the club. I restarted the video and we all witnessed the part of the crime we had already pieced together. He threw her small body into the dumpster, closed the lid, and ran out of the camera's view. Coming back only five minutes later, he opened the dumpster and emptied a bottle over the figure inside when she woke up. He started yelling at her when she reached out with her right hand and started banging a piece of two-by-four against the side of the dumpster. It looked like the lighter fluid had told her she needed to do something or die. Then we saw him look up and behind him before running away. I also saw him drop something that skittered under the dumpster. The last piece I was familiar with, but my family wasn't. They saw me running out; the figure in the dumpster hit the side again. I got her out and inside.

"Okay, the side view might give us his features; that damn baseball cap hides his face the whole time," Jazz said monotonously.

"Yeah, but that can wait. You did make two separate discs, didn't you? The law only gets this cam."

"Of course, I kn..."

We all jumped when a bloodcurdling scream sounded from the little's bedroom. I ran as fast as I could to be by her side. She's sitting upright in bed, clasping Lion to her chest, tears streaming from her eyes. As soon as I enveloped her in my arms she let out a deep sigh.

"Daddy."

I've never felt this immediate bond to anyone but my adoptive brothers. It all felt so right to have her in my arms; I had to hope that the psychological damage wasn't too much. I hoped that an intelligent woman sat inside this scared little.

"Can you tell me what woke you up, Precious?"

"Sissie is all alone now, with two Daddies to serve."

"Was Sissie your friend?"

"Yes, Daddy, my bestest and my only friend. She was Daddy Jimmie's."

Gritting my teeth at the fact that two perverts had found each other, I softly petted her hair, stroking it from the top of her head all the way to her waist. The ends were terribly split; I would have to get Maggie in here to give her a haircut. Until she's back to normal I would keep her close. I absolutely won't let her out until that monster, or both those monsters as it now seemed, were caught.

Dad came to the door and tossed me a pair of sleep pants; he clearly prescribed me as the medicine to her nightmares. Well, if it came to it, I wouldn't have left her even if he didn't.

"We'll let ourselves out, see you tomorrow," he whispered and I nodded.

When Precious was asleep again, still clutching Lion to her chest, I quickly changed into my sleeping pants, brushing my teeth even quicker. I wanted to shower but I didn't want her to be alone. Well, this would be the first time I went to sleep smelling of a kitchen. I crept into the small twin bed behind the beautiful naked woman; I had to have a stern talking with my cock to behave. I told him he needed to wait until this little had found her adult inside. I wrapped her up in my arms and I felt her relax into my touch. My mind was in overdrive, but I also felt myself relax holding her. It took me quite a while before I drifted off.

-0O-00OO00-O0-

Bella had been here now for two weeks and a lot had happened. The first few days she was very clingy; she would start to cry when I left her sight. I had to think fast; I needed to be in the kitchen in a few hours. I called Emmett to ask him to set up a play area, with a pallet for her to lie on if she wanted, in the kitchen. He came through brilliantly; he even went and got a white picket fence to put around her playground. Her pallet was actually a thick air mattress with soft blankets and pillows. He had taken some of the extra judo mats from the gym to make the floor soft to sit on, and a thick soft rug covered them. He told me he was glad I had been adamant we would have a lot of free floor space in the kitchen; otherwise she would have been very cramped during my working hours. It looked wonderful and she would be able to see me the whole time.

I sat her down in a frilly yellow sundress I had once bought at a Daddy/little convention we had at the club, which fit her perfectly. How in the world had my imagined size then worked out so well? She sat down with Lion, which hadn't left her side since she grabbed him from me, and a picture book especially for littles. She had told me that she could read, write, and do sums. She then baffled me when she said that she was ready to do her high school finals. She shyly told me that her nanny was a very nice old lady who had taught her while her Daddy was at work; he never suspected a thing.

I lavishly praised her, telling her over and over how proud I was of her. The glowing smile on her face was priceless. She watched me do prep intently and I let her taste the sauces when they were finished. Rose burst into the kitchen around noon, grown up style, calling me Edward and giving me a kiss on the cheek. She then turned around and visibly changed into her little persona and skipped over to Precious' pen to say hello. I left her to what she's good at when I told Precious that it was Rosie who had come to play. Rose looked at me and signaled to me with her eyes; glad I understood her, I lifted her by her waist into the enclosure. She plopped down and started babbling.

Precious watched her with wide eyes but listened intently. Rose was very crafty, telling tales about her Daddy and me—she called me Daddy Edward. Slowly she put in how the lifestyle should work with Daddies and littles. We both held our breath when Precious touched her arm and asked if she was bad if she didn't have to do nasty things. Rose took a deep breath and giggled.

"No, silly, I get my extras taken away first. Then, if I've been really, really bad I can get spanked hard. But what do you call nasty things?"

"Things my mommy and pops always told me that strangers shouldn't do to me. ThingsmyoldDaddyhasdonewhenIwasbad," she blurted out the last part.

"Why do you say your old Daddy? I mean, I know that you like Daddy Edward, but you shouldn't jump Daddies very easily. They wouldn't like that."

"Because my old Daddy threw me away; he said he didn't want me anymore when I had ideas of my own. He wanted to burn me, and he put me in the trash! Daddy! Daddy, please! I won't leave you; I want to be with YOU!" She literally screamed the last word.

I quickly shoved my pan off the hot zone and went to pick her up. With her face cuddled into my neck, she whispered, "Daddy, do you mind if I have my own ideas?"

With tears in my eyes, I answered, "No, Precious, I don't, but I have my own things I like a lot and things I'd rather have you not do. If you do those you'll be punished like Rosie told you. I could, for instance, take Lion away for a while. It will take a whole lot before I would spank you for anything else than pleasure."

I knew I had to become very creative in finding alternative punishments for an eight-year-old. Because she was severely beaten for thirteen years, that would never be part of her punishment regime.

"Can you make spanking nice?" she asked with an incredulous look on her face.

"Yes I can, but I won't do it to you for a while. You need to heal, li... Precious. I'm very mad at your old Daddy; he did a lot which was very bad. He took you and he kept you captive against your will. I want you to choose to stay with me, then we will talk as Bella and Edward to get the rules worked out. Let Rosie tell you and show you how it should be. Then, when you understand and you're ready, we will make it official. Until then I'm your temporary Daddy. You might find another Daddy in the club; it has to be your choice."  
I said the last sentence with a fierce stab through my heart, but I had to show her I wouldn't force her. Rose sat watching us and lifted an eyebrow at my expression.

Precious tightened her arms around my neck. "I. Choose. You. Daddy!"

I crushed her against my chest. "As long as you want me, I'm yours. If you ever want another Daddy, please don't run away, just talk to me."

Rose slipped out, and Precious and I went back to our happy silence. She was reading the book and I went about my business. I gave her a bowl of my chef's pasta when it was her dinner time. I never ate dinner; I had to taste constantly to check the flavors of the dishes I prepared; that was enough to keep me working out to stay toned. I also made sure to eat a hearty lunch before work. Precious ate happily, humming over her food. She shyly got my attention. "Daddy, the curry powder in this is really yummy, and the peas are funny, good funny. I'm done."

I grinned because I doubted the bowl had to go into the dishwasher; she had cleaned it thoroughly. After I had Emmett give her one of his fantastic brownies, she lay back on the bed, Lion on her chest, and her hands rubbing her stomach. When I had the kitchen cleaned I picked her up and took her upstairs. Once we were in her room, I set her down and asked about her bath time before. I was right; the bastard didn't care for her, he used her. I told her how I liked bath time; her eyes grew wide while her big smile crept on her face again. When I finished my explanation, she sat nodding enthusiastically.

I took off her dress and socks, leaving her in ruffled panties and her own ragged bra. I had spied the size and given Rose a note to ask her to buy a bunch of appropriately little bras for my Precious. I took her hand, walking into the bathroom where I had the tub half full with more Disney bubbles. I took off the rest of Precious' clothes and lifted her into the tub. I gave her a bath fish, one that would come in handy later when I put in the batteries; it was a bath vibrator, too. I thoroughly bathed her, washing and conditioning her hair; I was in Daddy heaven. I had to fight my attraction to her and was glad I kept my pants on. I still sat very close to the tub, to keep my tented groin out of sight. She was beautiful; the skin that wasn't marred by bruises was creamy white. She was a little bit skinny—I could vaguely see her ribs—but that was nothing a good meal couldn't fix. When I was done and lifted her out of the tub, she went to get the towel to dry herself. I grabbed it first, lifting an eyebrow at her.

"I can do that, it's no trouble," she said in a grown-up voice. There was my beautiful Bella; I bit the inside of my cheek to refrain from bringing attention to it. I just started to dry her off. Looking into her eyes, for the first time I saw her relax into her little state. From now on it would be her choice to be little. By that very brief adult action, she had lifted herself out of the forced little state she was in and then truly chose to give herself to me. I saw trust in her eyes for the first time instead of fear. We had been in the bathroom for about half an hour by then. I put her in a boy short and tank top set for bed, pink with purple accents. I put her in bed, telling her she had to try and sleep in her own bed alone first. I still had some phone calls to make, following up on all threads of investigation. She nodded sleepily, closed her eyes clutching Lion—who had followed bath time from the bathroom counter—gave a yawn and nodded off to my humming that tune again.

We found a nice routine for the day; Rosie came by for daily play dates, and after about a week, Precious would remain calm when I left the room. The nightmares were still horrendous, but she now told me what happened in them: a strange mix of dull routine, loneliness so big it was overwhelming, and terrifying beatings which made her cry out.

She told Rose a lot of what happened to her. Rose won't tell a thing other than until James and Sissie showed up she just had to do as she was told. Because she was held in a house without calendars or clocks, she has no idea of time passing. It did, but how much is a riddle. Rose estimated that the change from slave to sex-slave would have taken place around the time Precious was seventeen or eighteen, which made her legal, but only just.

I was glad Rose wouldn't give me details; she had come to me with red eyes, tear-streaks on her cheeks. With what she told me, I was already nauseated. How could someone ruin the innocence of such a beautiful creature?

It was my day off and we sat cuddled on the couch; Precious was tucked into my side, reading some teen vampire novel. It was seriously captivating to watch the emotions flitting across her face, but I had to focus on this stew I was designing. I had been lucky to get my hands on a substantial amount of wild caught rabbit. I wanted to create a special rabbit stew. Every attempt so far was a complete bust; reading back over what I'd written, once again I scowled when my imaginary stew was constructed on my mental palate. The taste that came to me was generic and unappealing; I truly didn't know what I was doing wrong. I fisted my hair in frustration.

Suddenly, Precious tapped my arm. "Daddy, that's yucky, it's like you marinated the rabbit in perfume."

A pensive look came over her face.

"I think to jump-start the rabbit you shouldn't pile the taste on it. Rabbit is like the woods itself... Yes, dump the leek and coriander and take fennel and tarragon instead."

I mulled it over in my head; the anisy flavors would enhance the woodsy flavor of the rabbit. I understood, too, what I had been doing wrong; I tried to prepare the rabbit like it was an ordinary chicken.

"Well done, Precious, I'm very proud of you."

She thought with her adult mind but stayed in her little persona. Oh, how fantastic was that! I think that our next step will be a long talk about rules and limits.

"Precious, sit up please." A worried look came in her eyes, but she did as I said.

"Nothing to worry about, sweet one. I'd like to talk to you. Can you talk to me as a big person, or do you want to be little?"

"Daddy, I'd like to be little but I can think with my big mind if you like. I'm just more comfortable acting little."

"That's good, Bella; I'm going to talk as Edward to you. It's time for us to define our relationship. I know you've read the books and listened carefully to Rosie. To make you completely safe and comfortable, I'd like for us to draw up a contract which will give us both security and clarity."

"Okay, Da... Edward."

She took my hand. "You'll have to tell me what goes into such a contract. Does it also describe the nasty? Sorry, I know you call it differently, it's just what I've learned to call it."

"Bella, if it's done right, it's the greatest pleasure. When the time is right, I'll teach you. I'd like to ask if you find it uncomfortable when I wash you during bath time."

"Nooo, that's really, really nice. Nobody has ever been this nice to me, not even my mom and pops."

"I like you a lot as a little, but I like you big, too. These are the rules I go by for my littles; they change a bit with the age of the little persona. Do you think you'll always want to be this little or do you think your little persona would grow up a bit still?"

We talked for hours and came up with a satisfactory temporary contract we both signed—temporary because Bella wasn't sure how her little would evolve. She was sure she'd like to do more in a sexual way, and we agreed that she should be the instigator. But she'd have to do that in an appropriate and respectful manner. We also decided that Bella would help me in the kitchen. Once she was trained enough, she could work independently on my days off with the little crew who did the lunch hour then.

-0O-OO00OO-O0-

Precious was doing so well; we had written up our contract and I had given her a collar, a platinum charm bracelet with three charms showing she was mine. The three charms were a little Lion, a letter E, and my crest, a combination of the Masen and Cullen ones. We had steadily become more physical; we could actually be found on the couch sometimes making out like teenagers. I kept it playful, to show her that it was fun and exciting. She had touched my clothed cock a few times now, but she froze every time I would hint at going further.

That day I was bathing her after we had finished in the kitchen; my loose chefs pants were tented as always but I wouldn't draw attention to it. I didn't hide it anymore either. I lifted her out of the tub and stood her in front of the counter on the thick little rug we had there (whatever it's called).

She dropped to her knees and grabbed my cock, struggling to undo the drawstring on the pants. I looked at her with one of my eyebrows raised. She knew not to do anything without asking. She bowed her head, pouting adorably. She gulped in a large breath of air.

"Sorry, Daddy, but I want to suck your peepee sooooooooo much. I really, really want to make you happy."

With that, I rid myself of my pants and boxers. That got me another gulp. "Daddy, that's much bigger than I have ever seen. I hope it fits."

It fit all right, and my Precious had no gag reflex. After a few hesitant bobs, she went for it and took me straight into her throat. The sensation was so intense that I couldn't hold back; that would take some getting used to. When she had cleaned me off, I picked her up and carried her to my bed, plopped her in the middle and started caressing her whole body. I then cautiously spread her legs and gave her a big lick from her puckered hole to her clit, sucking it into my mouth. It was for her the same as for me: she instantly came. I brought her down slowly form her high. She smiled goofily at me and said, "Daddy, I think I'm beginning to understand what's so much fun about this."

The next day would be her first solo lunch shift; in a very short time she had proven to be the best of the cooks in the little team, so she was running the kitchen with only Bree for help. Rosie and Maggie were their servers. All the solo working littles were claimed. That was to safeguard them. Every Dom or Daddy who came into the club knew to keep their paws off if they wanted to remain members. To show that they were claimed, they wore ribbons—purple ribbons—or leather wrist bands. That was for the claimed littles and Daddies. When you were solo and wanted to find a long-term companion, you wore yellow, and when you were seeking company for a night, no strings attached, you wore green. I'd gotten Precious a fitted velvet ribbon that we could use multiple times; added to that was the fact that it didn't irritate as normal ribbon could do. My pleasure was rewarding my girl with beautiful artificial flowers that I could clip on her ribbon.

Because this was her solo shift, I made sure that I wasn't anywhere near the kitchen after delivering her there; I had a board meeting in the office. I wasn't happy about leaving her—my chest always ached for her when she left my sight—but for her to learn some independence I had to kick myself out. To keep an eye on things, the wall of monitors were on. We could see every corner of the club, dining rooms, and kitchen. We always had one or more Daddies at hand to help the littles if they were disrespected in any way. Our club had a very good reputation and we'd like to keep it that way.

We were knee deep into budget negotiations when I saw Precious walking towards the bathroom. She could have gone upstairs to our private quarters, but one of her rules was that she had to stay in the club if she was working. Right after she disappeared into the bathroom, two men I didn't know were led into the formal dining room; both wore green bands. That meant they were either first timers and not allowed to wear any other band when they came without their own little, or they were only here to pick a little up. They were both Emmett-sized and I had an uneasy feeling; somehow I had the feeling I had seen them before, I just couldn't place them. I turned up the volume on the target mike and gave it their table number.

"We're in the right place, Jake, lots of littles here. It's sad to see so many already claimed. I got a peek on a little girl you might like; she went to the bathroom when we came in. She could be a clone of your former little girl. Sad you had to let her go permanently. Look, there she is. Damn, she's claimed, too, because she really is a glamorized version of your little girl."

I watched, stupefied, when Precious turned deadly pale, stormed up to the guy talking and soundly slapped his face, turning on her heels and running towards the office. The second guy tried to grab her but she was too quick on her feet; she dove under his arm as if she had done that countless times before and was able to reach me and the board members safely. As soon as she stood before me, she fell to her knees and started sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy, but I finally had the chance to do something back. That was my old Daddy and Daddy James. I just freaked when I heard that familiar voice say 'little girl'; everything came back with a vengeance. I should have simply run away, but I could finally do something back!"

I wrapped her in my arms and shushed her. I had to think fast, because she had her shift to finish, we Daddies had to plan to capture these guys, but at their home because we knew there was another little there. I wanted to protect her, and I would, but she needed to learn that breaking the rules had consequences. So I pulled Lion out of the pocket of her 'Look, Daddy, I'm cooking!' apron and told her that he was mine until the next morning. Then I made her look at me. I told her that I understood why she did what she did, but that she still should have come to me first.

Furthermore, even though she knew the man was not a good Daddy, she had to learn to be respectful to all Daddies and Doms. Slapping someone was not respectful behavior and therefore she would sleep alone tonight and after her shift would stand in the corner for fifteen minutes. She looked at me with tear-stained cheeks and pouting lips but still nodded her acquiescence to the punishment. Her eyes went to Lion on the table, new tears running down her cheeks. I stood up, turned her around, and frog-marched her to the kitchen.

"Precious, you are to finish your shift. Use your phone to ask for permission to do anything for which you have to leave here. I'll be here when the shift is over to set you in the corner." I patted her ass softly and she went back to work. Bree watched with big eyes, not knowing what happened. I had to tear myself away again, but the resolution to bring those dogs down made me do it. Back in the boardroom, I knew they were all up to speed with what happened with Precious the night I found her. Jane, our forensics queen, had lifted the DNA from the dumpster. I always kept my friends in the justice system apprised of my dealings; they would always be sure I was on the up and up. I wanted to prove to them constantly that I wasn't like my father, the sperm-donor I came from, at all.

"Gentlemen and lady, these two beasts," I said, pointing to the monitor, "are child molesting kidnappers who held my Precious for thirteen years. I need your help! Because I, for me and my little, don't want my lifestyle aired all over the courts. It would give us a lot of grief. Can we devise an alternative way to rid ourselves of them?"

They looked at each other, nodding their heads; suddenly Alec, Jane's little, who worked in the coroner's office, shot upright.

"Daddy Edward, those men are leaving! Shall I follow them and tell you where they live? If Mommy approves, of course."

Jane answered him by throwing him the keys of his bike and said, "Go!"

Aro, the Supreme Court judge said, "Listen..."

-0O-00OO00-O0-

After I had put Precious to bed, I left Esme and Rose to look after her. With hurt in my heart, I went to the assembly at Carlisle's. We dressed to impress; Caius—Captain Caius of the Chicago SWAT teams—brought a truck full of SWAT gear to dress up in. Now we stood in an innocuous neighborhood, ready to invade a non-descript two-story home. Those of our group with police experience took the lead and crashed through the door brandishing guns and had the two ingrates cuffed and kneeling on the ground in seconds. Now it was my turn; I had to confront them.

"Good evening, gentlemen, my name is Edward Cullen. I'm the accuser of this bunch of men. You are brought up on charges of kidnapping on behalf of Bella Swan; charges of abuse, wrongful imprisonment, and sexual abuse are added to that. Tonight you're going to be tried and convicted in the way of our lifestyle."

Jacob started to laugh derisively. "And how do you think you'll get past the he-said, she-said stalemate in the justice system? As far as I can see, it's still two of us against one of her."

I thought about a way to convey we weren't going to act exactly like the justice system they knew and convey my utter contempt of them. Well, I guess I have something of my no-good-mafia-kingpin-abusing-asshole-of-a-father in me. I looked them straight in the eye and told them they would receive justice the _Masen_ way.

It was funny how pale those two tanned fuckers could get; it looked like they grew up in Chicago, too. I wanted to enhance their fear a little. "Why Masen, do you think? Well, let's see if you remember him clearly. I'm a carbon copy of my father if you look past my hair and eye color; those are my mom's. The one murder which got him caught, because at eight years old I still was smarter than him."

Their shoulders slumped because they knew they were dead meat. The guys quickly threw them in the SWAT truck, all tied up so we could leave them alone. Jane led the next bit of our operation: a meticulous search of the premises. Jasper, Aro, Emmett, and I were the first assigned to the top floor, Carlisle following close behind. We all had seen James' surreptitious glances to the stairs and were almost certain that his captive was held there. We tore through the bathroom and hall closets, which were virtually bare. I noticed that the central heating was shut down, then Jasper let out an agonized howl.  
He had roughly thrown open a closet, expecting it to be bare as the hall closet had been. Nothing was further from the truth. A narrow one-person bed was crammed in the space, and on it lay a very small girl bound to the bed frame by one arm and one leg. The whole closet stank; it was obvious that she wasn't looked after properly. This had to be Sissie; luckily her bindings were rope. He whipped out his knife and cut her loose. She was in his arms and I was witness to a strangely familiar scene. I watched his face and knew he was gone, just as I had been when I found Precious.

I turned around, satisfied that Sissie would be a part of Precious' life again. I wanted to see if I could find anything Precious would think of as worthy to keep. I went into a small back room that looked like it had been used as a bedroom. At least the mattress on the floor looked used. In a corner lay a small pile of folded but frayed clothes. I flipped over the mattress; bare wooden floorboards stared back at me. But one board attracted my attention; the corners were rounded, as if it had been lifted out numerous times. It was underneath that board that I found Bella's treasure: a locket holding a picture of her parents.

After our successful raid on the rental property of James Hunter and Jacob Black, as we had found out from their wallets, I was so incredibly enraged. My heart was wounded by those animals; that incredible woman had endured so much and still came out loving and strong. I loved her; it was more than just love for a little as a Daddy, more than for a collared sub by her Master. I was sure of it now; after all we had gone through, I was in love with her.

-0O-OO00OO-O0-

I sat in the living room with Precious on my lap, my mind reeling with everything that happened the night before. In two days Jane would drain the vats of liquefied remains and dispose of everything. The solids that remained would be simply be dumped with the trash.

"Precious, you'll never have to be afraid of your old Daddy or Daddy James again. All the Daddies of the club and some littles, as well, captured them yesterday and held a trial. They were both found guilty and disposed of right away."

Big eyes met my worried ones; I truly didn't know how she would take it.

"Edward, what do you mean disposed of?"

She wanted to talk big girl with me; I still had to phrase it carefully.

"Well, the Daddies and littles of the board of the club raided their house yesterday. We captured them and brought them to the dungeon of my dad's—you know he's a Dom. There, each of the Daddies who work in the justice system took up their roles. Judge Aro presided, and the rest of us were witnesses. We laid out all the evidence we had and came to the inevitable conclusion they were guilty. They would have been convicted in any court, but the side effect of exposing them would have been exposure of our lifestyle for us. We made a unanimous decision that we didn't want that; Bella, we killed them and made the bodies disappear."

Her hand was over her mouth, panic swirling in her eyes.

"You all killed for me? Why?"

"To prevent them doing it ever again, to make sure that kids all over won't ever have to undergo what you went through. I was there to punish them for what they did to you, all those years, and Sissie."

"Sissie's safe?"

"Yes. Sissie's real name is Alice, and her new Daddy is my brother Jasper.

"Bella, even though you and Alice went through a lot that never should have happened, both Jasper and I are glad you found your way here. I've always known I was different; hell, Carlisle was very open to us about his lifestyle. Because of my battered youth I needed control, but I hated hurting submissives more than a pleasure spanking by hand. Any implement made me flash back to my father beating my mother with his belt. That's why I chose to become a Daddy, but until now I hadn't found the right person to be my little. I sometimes played a night with one of the free littles, but that just didn't feel right. I need more, a true connection with my little, a connection going beyond playing Daddy. A connection I have found with you. Precious, you're my first collared little, and I truly hope you'll be my last."

Bella had changed her posture and was once again Precious; I loved that we could slip in and out of our roles without effort or discourse. Her beautiful brown eyes looked up into mine for the longest time—it was as if she took stock of my soul—I felt the love pouring from my eyes and thought I could feel the same from her.

"Daddy Edward, I love you," she said in her little voice. But by tagging on my name, she told me she loved all of me, just as I was.

"I love you, too, Precious Bella."

She attacked me and kissed me deeply, her hands gripping my hair. Of course I reciprocated just as enthusiastically; this girl was my destiny. She plopped back onto my lap, looking coyly from under her eyelashes. She fingered the neck of her pink Barbie t-shirt; that made me think of the chainless locket I had found in her hiding spot. Last night when I came home, I had added a picture of me on the other side, and added a chain to it.

"Precious, I've got a present for you."

I took out the vintage jewelry box I mooched off Esme last night and gave it to her. She opened the box as if Christmas had come early. But that changed into undisguised wonder when she saw her locket, polished, looking as good as new.

"How?"

"I found it in your hiding place at your old Daddy's house. Last night, when all was done, my mom and I cleaned and polished it and she gave me the chain and box. Open it; I put something special for you there, too."

She carefully opened the locket, tears pooling in her eyes at the sight of her parents, but when she saw my picture a very big smile graced her face.

"All the people I love where they belong," she said, putting on the necklace, "right over my heart.

"But, Daddy, you have to tell me. You won't be in any trouble because of what you've done last night, will you? You won't be made to leave me alone? I want to know, because I know I can't live on my own yet and I never want another Daddy."

"Precious, everybody present yesterday evening was also present at the board meeting at lunch yesterday. Most of those people have high functions in the justice system. We will all vouch for each other that we were at the board meeting, which was taking place at the time of the court case. Furthermore, nobody will ever even find a hair of those two lowlifes to start a case with. Bella, we dissolved them in acid; the official forensics lab will dispose of that acid as remnants of an experiment. I will never leave you, until you don't want me anymore."

Precious pounced on me again, only this time she didn't stop, she kept kissing me passionately. I was fast approaching the point of no return; I had been holding back with her so long. She straddled me on the couch, grinding her core over my rock hard cock. I had to make sure that this was what she wanted, before all my control flew out the window.

"Precious Bella, tell me how and if you truly want this. Do you want Daddy or Edward?"

"Daddy, please... Yes, I want this, I want you! I want my Daddy to play dirty with me."

Shit, this was going to happen and I needed to get my upper head together to be Daddy for her. I grabbed her hips and stopped her movements.

"Precious, if you want Daddy to play dirty with you, you'll have to listen."

I looked her square in the eyes and she immediately lowered her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I'll listen because I really want to play."

I knew she was ready for it, but I had to check to make sure.

"So, you want to play to make Daddy happy or because you want Daddy to make you happy?"

"I think both, Daddy?" she said, more like a question, with an adorable confused expression on her face.

She sat squirming on my lap and fidgeted her fingers in and out of each other. I took a few deep breaths to center myself and think how I wanted to do this.

"Precious, you're going to take Lion and put him to bed in your room. Then you're going to take a ten minute shower and dress in the clothes you'll find on your bed. When you're done you're to come to my room. We don't want to expose Lion to dirty games, now do we?"

She was bouncing on my lap, ready to run as soon as I let her.

"Go!"

Her little feet pitter-pattered at high speed towards her room. I followed more slowly and was just in time to hear what she said to Lion.

"I'm sorry, Lion, but you need to sleep alone tonight. Tonight, this girl is going to play with Daddy! I'm so happy here!"

I waited out of sight until I heard the shower running, taking note of the time to make sure she took her time in the shower. I then made my choice from her closet. White ruffled panties and a simple white cotton camisole; she would look sinfully innocent. I went to my room, quickly washing my body, and searching out black silk boxers. They're actually on the big side, lots of room for it to grow. Excitement coursed through my body like wildfire; I'd never felt this much anticipation about playing. I sat on the bed, right in the middle against the headboard. The shower in the little bedroom shut off. With difficulty I stopped myself from bouncing like Precious on the bed. I felt like a little boy waiting for Christmas morning. Through the baby monitor I heard Precious humming. I smiled; her voice in any way relaxed me instantly. I really didn't know contentment before I met her. Her door opened and closed and I heard her skipping to my door.

Her skips faltered when she saw the door open for the first time; small timid steps entered the room, stopping just over the threshold. I froze in my spot; before me was my fantasy girl, the one I'd used for years until now. She stood there, fidgeting her fingers, a vision in white ruffles. Her panties covered her pert ass, the camisole was tight around her breasts, which were the perfect handful; she had braided her hair into two long braids, with white bows on the ends. I snapped myself from my ogling, which had brought a shy blush to her face and chest.

"Come here, Precious."

She ran over to the bed, crawled up and knelt beside me, looking at the bedspread.

"Look at me."

Her eyes locked with mine and I saw confusion in them.

"Precious, I'm going to let you explore me. You're free to touch any way you like. I'll be exploring, too. We have played before, just not in here. You will be my guide; I need you to be clear if you get afraid in any way. Please, my Precious; I don't want you to go on when you're afraid of me. I don't ever want you to be afraid of me. So, go ahead, missy, play."

She shuffled closer, until her knees touched my hips; she then sat back on her heels and watched, her head held a bit on a slant, an adorable crinkle between her eyebrows. It looked like she was hatching a game plan. Suddenly she straddled me and sat back again, just looking, memorizing. This wouldn't do, this way we would sit here all night.

I attacked her sides, tickling her mercilessly, making her peeling laughter ring out in the room. Between tickles I pulled her nipples, coaxing moans out in between the giggles. When her giggles became too debilitating, she collapsed onto my chest, her breath fanning over it in bursts. But she became more daring, her hands sliding over my shoulders and lodging in the hair at the nape of my neck.

An electric jolt shot through me when her tongue tested out my nipple. I moaned out my pleasure and was treated to a hesitant bite to the same nipple. I thrust upward, I couldn't hold that back. I felt her smile against my chest. My hands now caressed every bit of her I could reach; I was mesmerized by the feel of the ruffles on her ass. I grabbed a hold on her and tightened our hug.

She started to grind her core against my rock hard cock; I reciprocated, and our giggle play started to change to foreplay. One of her hands snaked its way into my boxers and she took hold tentatively. My thrusts immediately answered her touch by becoming harder. I slipped a hand into her panties and kneaded one of her ass cheeks, reaching with my fingers to tease her pussy.

Not too long after that we were both without clothes. Precious had thrown off her camisole first and I feasted on her breasts, making her beg for more. I slowly led her forward; she was very close to a climax already. I knew I had to make sure she came on my fingers at least once before she could take my cock pain free.

I started to plunge two fingers into her sopping wet pussy, finally adding the third. Precious was incoherent, thrashing on top of me. When I put my thumb on her clit she exploded, her arms and legs spasming uncontrollably. She took a few minutes to come out of her euphoric daze, then surprised me by grabbing my cock, positioning herself over it and plunging down, enveloping me in her moist heat completely. For the first time ever we were joined together; for the first time ever I felt complete.

I grabbed the back of her head and crashed our lips together. I tried to poor all my love into that kiss. With all my strength I maintained control; I remained still, not taking over. I needed to give her that. When she grew confident I could truly dominate her, but until then I just had to give her what she needed, take care of her.

She started to move, slowly moving her hips. Her arms drifted up around my neck while she rode my cock slowly. Every move was tentative and sensual at the same time. I encouraged her, enveloping her by pulling her in my arms and bending my knees slightly; I helped her move, to take what she needed. Our movements and sounds showed both of us that the feelings were growing between us. Before too long we were teetering on that magical edge, before we fell together looking deep into each other's eyes. The love between us was palpable, we were one.

I lay back, taking Precious with me. Her spent body was sprawled across my chest; we were still intimately joined, we were one for all time now. Precious' breathing changed and I realized she was asleep. I wrapped her up in my arms, keeping her safe and close.

My mind drifted off to our future. I could see it all. I would make sure her independence was built up, help her get any diploma she wanted. I wanted her self-confidant, able to live on her own if she wanted to. Then I would propose, give her the choice; quaking with uncertainty I would await her answer. If what we felt this night was true, she would say yes.

I went further into the future to our wedding day. In my mind's eye it would be a Daddy/little ceremony, just because I knew she was more comfortable in her little persona. We would hold it here at the club, completely redoing the large playground room to a wedding chapel. I would stand next to Aro, who would wed us, Jasper and Emmett, my chosen brothers, at my side. Emmett and I were in chef's whites, my scarf and trousers in yellow, his in standard blue, and Jasper in his front of house suit with a yellow vest. The room was filled with Daddies and littles, some Dom/sub couples also in attendance.

Everything was ready and the music would start to play—Peter's theme from Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf—and Sissie and Rosie would skip up the aisle in soft yellow ruffled dresses with white ribbons around their waists and in their hair, holding their favorite stuffed animals—a dog for Sissie and a bear for Rosie. They both would curtsy toward us and take their places, then the most beautiful creature in the world would skip her way towards me, her dress the same as the girls but in white with yellow ribbons, Lion held safely in her hands.

It would be a simple ceremony with traditional vows. After we kissed we would go to the outside playground to take pictures and the reception would be in the special dining room. The pictures of this beautiful future went on and on when I drifted off into sleep.

-0O-00OO00-O0-

"Edward! Don't act like a child, I'm not prepared to be your Mommy!" Bella scolded me for my whining at her menu proposal.

I sat there slack jawed, wide eyed but still grinning, because my beautiful Bella just graduated her grown-up course. While we sparred on about the menu, my mind went off into planning mode. My musings about her state of being before I proposed, after our first time together, had just become a reality.

It had been an eventful year. We had settled in a nice 24/7 arrangement, because Bella really preferred to be little for most of the time. We scheduled regular grown-up time where we could go on dates. She had come so far in all aspects of her life; daily sessions with Rose had built her confidence and cleared her mind of the way it forced her to be little. Now she could decide what she wanted.

To my relief, her little persona was how she felt most comfortable in her skin. If she had become an adult without the need to be little I would have given it up for her, but I would have missed that part of our life. It never happened; the lifestyle that had been forced on her became her choice.

When the fear of her old Daddy was lifted off her shoulders, Bella started to grow by leaps and bounds. She asked me to help her to take her GED's and wiped the floor with them with a perfect 4.0 across the board. Her next project was studying hard on culinary theory at the Cordon Bleu Institute. They had bent over backwards for her to attend remotely, a first for the institute. After I went there and told them that she wasn't comfortable leaving the club yet and showed them tapes of her work in the kitchen without any form of training, they caved, and together we had devised her curriculum. They were impressed by her culinary savvy; a total amateur combining flavors the way she did was enough ground for them to step outside their comfort zone. But they wouldn't budge about kitchen attire when doing the practical tests. That threw us for a loop, because she flatly refused to cook without Lion; I had chef jackets made with a pocket for him on her back.

She did the impossible again, acing all her exams at the prestigious institute. The only thing holding her back from her diploma now was lack of practical hours. Luckily, my average score at the same institute was high enough to be a mentor to new chefs. As part of her training, she needed to run the kitchen all by herself, with her menu in place, for 400 hours minimum.

We couldn't count the lunch hours because that menu was deemed too simple. That prerequisite had us battling over her menus regularly, simply because I was a bad chef in some aspects of my job. I avoided certain ingredients like the plague because I loathed them. I would whine and pout when Bella designed a dish with them in it.

Until that day, she had backed down on them, but just now she cut me off and held her ground. All right, I'll admit, it was one of my ways to test her state of mind. My goal had always been to coax her adult mind into bloom; as much fun as caring for an eight-year-old in a grown body is, until the adult inside drove the eight-year-old shown on the outside, it was a chore. I never liked submissives without a mind of their own; I hated Doms who controlled everything, so strict that every submissive became a carbon copy of the one before. At that moment I was ecstatic that my Precious had become an independent woman with a strong craving to be little.

While I worked on her adult independence, our relationship kept growing, too; we identified our level of being by the names we called each other. When she wanted to be little she would call out for Daddy, and when she needed grown-up time I was Edward. In the kitchen she hovered in the middle, her adult mind on task while her actions screamed little. That was until her practicum hours for Cordon Bleu. She needed to show full adult attention on the tapes that were sent to Cordon Bleu.

The menu in the restaurant had always been adventurous, but never as much as it was now. Our styles complemented each other; through rousing discussions we both had risen to greater heights in creating wonderful dishes. Once a week we had a fixed five-course menu, completely designed by Bella. It was her playground in searching for even more tasteful dishes.

And now, at this the moment—the kitchen was cleaned, her 400 hours to become a certified chef completed—I didn't want to wait anymore. Plus, I planned the whole thing and all our friends were gathered in the playground room to celebrate her certification, and hopefully our engagement. I grabbed the snack from the cooler we always shared before going upstairs, only tonight I carefully placed the black box on the piece of chocolate cake. With the plate behind my back, I knelt before her on one knee.

"Precious Bella, you were dumped into my life a year ago today and the connection between us was immediate. I couldn't understand my good fortune to find a little who wasn't only beautiful to look at, but fiercely loyal and damned intelligent, too. My monotonous life was transformed with the color you brought into it. I lost my heart and you've found it and kept it safe. Today, the day that you are officially a certified Cordon Bleu chef, I'd like to offer you the job of a lifetime, while making me complete. Precious Bella, will you do me the honor to become my wife?"

I put the cake in front of her, the chocolate surprise she invented, with a topping of engagement ring as the extra tonight. Tears were streaking down her cheeks, one hand over her mouth, the other fiercely grabbing Lion. I sat there, on one knee, completely uncertain of her answer now, my hope slowly being crushed into dust.

I had to urge her to answer when she suddenly squealed loudly and cried out, "Yes...yes...YES, I'll marry you! I love you, Daddy Edward!"

* * *

A/N I hope you enjoyed this brain twist of mine too, please review

enjoy reading

Pien


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